Enterprise Finalists

Prashant Arya is a globally recognized CIO and business transformation leader who leverages AI, cybersecurity, and digital innovation to drive competitive advantage. He has led Industry 4.0 initiatives that enhance manufacturing performance, improve profitability, and unlock business value. With deep expertise in cyber risk management and global divestitures, he has directed complex carve-outs and TSA transitions across multiple continents. His leadership aligns technology and business strategy to accelerate innovation, resilience, and growth.

Under Prashant’s leadership, IT has evolved into a strategic driver of business transformation. By advancing smart manufacturing, Industry 4.0, artificial intelligence, automation, and data-driven operations, his team is helping redefine how IAC designs, manufactures, and delivers products. The organization has built a scalable innovation platform spanning predictive analytics, computer vision, digital quality inspections, material optimization, and AI-enabled engineering, while exploring emerging technologies such as additive manufacturing. The result is a culture where innovation delivers measurable business value, enhances customer outcomes, improves operational performance, and empowers employees to focus on higher-value, strategic work

As Chief Information Officer for Oakland County, Michigan, I lead an IT organization of approximately 250 full-time-equivalent positions with a $110 million technology budget. I oversee technology strategy, cybersecurity, enterprise architecture, infrastructure, applications, and service delivery, supporting courts, public safety, public health, administrative operations, and local government partners. With county leadership and elected officials, I set investment priorities, manage risk, and balance reliability with modernization while developing our people and stewarding public funds.

My team’s greatest accomplishment is Oakland County IT’s journey from a technology provider toward a strategic partner—modernizing public services while strengthening security, resilience, and fiscal stewardship. We delivered a countywide interoperable radio system for police and fire, modernized courtroom and public safety technology, and launched a payment platform processing $64.8 million in its first six months. But the team is the real story. Agile teams partner with departments, release improvements incrementally, and measure results against a five-year plan. My role: set direction, clear the runway, and trust talented people.

As Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Kevin Johnson leads the global IT organization for Clarience Technologies, a leader in visibility, safety, and digital technologies for transportation. With 36 years of IT experience across consulting, manufacturing, consumer goods, and financial services, Kevin is a dedicated leader and mentor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in management information systems and an MBA in finance and entrepreneurial management, both with Beta Gamma Sigma honors, from Wayne State University.

Clarience Technologies is a global leader in visibility, safety, and digital technologies for transportation. Since 2020, I’ve helped transform IT from a support function into a strategic partner. We’ve built a high-performing team, strengthened cybersecurity, and launched a unified analytics platform that delivers daily insights across dozens of companies. In close partnership with our commercial and operations leaders, we’ve launched our enterprise AI journey, moving the business from insight to action. This recognition belongs to everyone at Clarience who helped make it possible. It’s truly rewarding to be part of an organization making a global impact.

Russell is CIO at Hagerty, where he leads a global technology organization serving the automotive enthusiast ecosystem. A business and technology executive, he’s led strategic initiatives across Global Innovation, Data Monetization, and Insurance at GM; served as CEO of DaRK Capital and its portfolio companies, including Top 20 Insurtech Imprezzio; and drove enterprise analytics and distribution transformation at State Farm. He advises technology companies, serves as a college trustee, and is completing MIT’s CTO program.

Hagerty is member obsessed, but we ran our world-class businesses on disconnected technology that fragmented the member’s experience. My global team re-engineered the enterprise around four pillars built to serve that obsession: a modernized insurance core, a data science modeling factory, an identity spine resolving every member, household, and vehicle into one graph, and an orchestration layer connecting every member touchpoint. The result: members who are truly known, protected, and served across everything they love about cars, powered by decades of proprietary enthusiast data no competitor can replicate. Technology became our differentiator, and disciplined architecture, not heroics, compounds it.

Pete Wayne is Chief Information Officer at Corrigan Oil, leading enterprise technology, digital transformation, cybersecurity, data, and business systems. His career began in accounting and finance before transitioning into CIO leadership, giving him a strong business and financial perspective on technology strategy. He holds a master’s degree in Finance and brings more than two decades of executive leadership experience. Pete is active with SIM Detroit and serves on the board of CIOs Against Cancer.

My team’s greatest accomplishment has been transforming technology from a business constraint into a strategic enabler. We stabilized critical initiatives, stopped a failing ERP implementation, and negotiated an exit that avoided millions in future costs. We then redesigned our enterprise platform around Sage Intacct, with the ERP transformation now in full swing across ten vertically integrated businesses. In parallel, we strengthened cybersecurity, infrastructure, data visibility, and governance. We also addressed difficult personnel and change-management challenges directly, restoring organizational confidence in IT while building a culture of accountability, collaboration, adaptability, and execution.

Erik Wille is the CTO for Cabinetworks Group. He is a people driven leader passionate about transforming IT operations into a trusted partner that empowers organizations to dream boldly, build seamlessly, and delight consistently. Prior to Cabinetworks, Erik was the global CISO for American Axle and Head of Information Security for Penske Automotive Group. He holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Walsh College and an Executive MBA from the University of Michigan.

Our greatest success has been transforming IT from a technology-focused group into a customer-centric partner. By prioritizing business problems over tools, we’ve built stronger partnerships with functional leaders, unlocking new capabilities and driving enterprise growth. This shift has positioned IT as a trusted advisor, delivering solutions that are simple, seamless, and accessible helping build life into Cabinetworks Group through technology that empowers lasting change.